In a match full of emotional ups and downs, the Coventry Oakers ultimately proved to be a bit more composed than Mount St. Charles, winning the fifth set 16-14.
To win, Coventry overcame two players bumping into each other on a Mount serve at 14-13, which would have won the game for Mount. Coventry returned the serve, and an attack by Mount sailed out of bounds.
With the game now knotted at 14, a volley between the two teams led to a service error by Mount. Coventry then ended the game with a kill by Kelsey Ferrara that Mount couldn’t block properly.
Coventry will play East Providence for the state title at 5 p.m. Saturday at Keaney Gym.
Prout Upset by East Providence
Someone seemingly forgot to close the front door to Keaney Gym on Wednesday night, as the drafts from the nor’easter outside seemed to affect the teams inside.
However, East Providence used slightly crisper passing and returning to take advantage of Prout errors, and upset the top seed from Division I-South in four sets: 23-25, 25-22, 25-16 and 25-22.
Prout took the first game after building up a 10-1 lead. However, excluding a brief flurry in the fifth, it was the only time the Crusaders would look crisp against East Providence.
The second game was marred by errors from both teams. At one point, with the score 16-15, only eight of the points had come from kills – the other 23 were from errors. But the Townies managed to hang on until the end, winning on kills by Leah Drolet and Mary Monagle.
The third game was back-and-forth to the midpoint, as Prout took a 15-14 lead on a kill by senior Brooke Sullivan. However, it was the last lead they would get, as East Providence finished on a 10-2 run to take a 2-1 lead. An ace by Monagle and an error by Prout won the game for the Townies.
With the Crusaders’ backs against the wall, they woke up in the fourth game, fighting back against East Providence throughout. A kill by Sullivan gave Prout a 22-21 lead.
However, a Prout error and a kill by Drolet gave East Providence the lead right back, 23-22. Two errors by Prout handed the game to East Providence, 25-22, and the match as well.
East Providence will play Coventry for the state title at 5 p.m. Saturday at Keaney Gym.